Tara Betts Mailing Address: 1845 W.Superior, 1R Chicago, IL  60622 County: Cook E-mail: info@tarabetts.net Phone: Work: 312-455-1733 Genre: Poetry/Creative Non-Fiction

Black Issues Book Review
Color Lines magazine
QBR: The Black Book Review

• "Ode to The Rope," Warpland Journal, 2001
• "Ida's Ticket to Memphis" and "A Walk Around Pedro Albizu Compos High School," After Hours, 2001 
• "Tara," Columbia Poetry Review, 2001
• "Stories Told," Obsidian III, Spring 2000
•   An interview with asha bandele, Mosaic, Spring 2000
• "for sonia sanchez," Dialogue, Winter 1998
•   "Afrocentric Stamp," The Source, hip hop, October 1997
• "Paradise Found," New City (arts & entertainment weekly) 12 February 1998
• Black Radio Exclusive, urban music trade weekly, 1996 -97

Book Publications:

• Spoken Word Revolution
• Best Black Women's Erotica 2
• ROLE CALL ( Third World Press)
• "Peace Offerings" in These Hands I Know (Sarabande) edited by Afaa Michael Weaver
• "Nothing from Nobody" in That Takes Ovaries! (Crown/Three Rivers) edited by Rivka Solomon
• "Dread Locks," Bum Rush the Page, Crown, Fall 2001
• "Rock'n Roll be a Black Woman," Poetry Slam, Manic D Press, 2000
• Brothers & Others,
• Sugar Blue, Harmonica Man," Power Line, Tig Chuchu Press, 1999
  

Forthcoming Publications:

• Cave Canem 10th anniversary reader ( University of Michigan)
• Haiku Honey edited by Lissette Norman & Willie Perdomo
• Taboo Haiku essay in In Our Own Voices (Larkuma Press)

Awards, Fellowships, Grants and Honors:

• Joel Oppenheimer scholarship, New England College MFA Program, 2005
• 2004 Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship
• Cave Canem fellow, 2002-present
• 2002-2003 Illinois Arts Council Arts-in-Education roster
• 2001 Centrum Writer's Residency
• 2000 Ragdale Fellow
• 2000 Illinois Arts Council Literay Award for "I saw Her" published in Oyez Review
• 1999 Gwendolyn Brooks Open "Mic" Award
• 1999 Poets & Writers grant
• 1996 AEJ/NYU Journalism Intern at BET Weekend magazine
• 1995 Illinois College Press Award

Recent Readings, Performances and Productions:

• Fourth season of HBO's "Def Poetry Jam"
• Premeire season of "SPOKEN" on Black Family Channel w/ jessica Care moore
• University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign,
• San Francisco State University ,
• St. Edward's University ( Austin, Texas),
• Gwendolyn Brooks Center ( Chicago),
• Noyes Cultural Arts Center ( Evanston, IL),
• The Guild Complex ( Chicago),
• Field Museum of Natural History,
• University of Michigan-Dearborn ,
• Ladyfest Midwest at Congress Theater,
• Printer's Row Book Fair,
• University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point,
• University of Illinois-Chicago ,
• Poetry Festival at Harold Washington Library,
• "Girls & Violence" Conference at Northwestern School of Law,
• The Metro, Museum of Comtemporary Art Summer Solstice 2000,
• National Poetry Slam, African Festival of the Arts at DuSable Museum and many others

Recent Workshops:

• Intergenerational Writing in Chicago's Englewood community
• Performance Poetry
• Ethnopoetics: Poetic Forms by Writers of Color
• Women Writers as Essayists
• Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School ( Cook County Juvenile Detention Center)
• Morgan Park Academy
• Lakeside - McKinley alternative High School
• Young Women's Leadership Charter School
• Northside College Preparatory High School
• "Girl Talk" at Cook County Juvenile Detention Center
• Argo Community High School (Justice, IL)
• Womanmade Gallery, Yollocalli Youth Museum
• Poetry workshop with Sterling Plumpp, Guild Complex, Fall 1997
• Poetry workshop with Quraysh Ali Lansana, Jazz & Java, March 1998

Present Employment:

• works as an artist-in-residence and teacher, teaches creative writing with Young Chicago Authors, also performs, reads and lectures throughout the country.

Preferred Audience: Open to all audiences
Willing to travel: Anywhere

Willing to travel-Other: